If you would like to register, please email 2 preferred usernames to oceanfisher@gmail.com. You will be registered and sent instructions.
To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Loyola launches research program to study new treatment for stroke, spinal cord injury
Download PDF Copy
Reviewed by Kate Anderton, BScOct 6 2018
Loyola Medicine has launched a research program to study a new treatment approach for stroke and spinal cord injury patients that involves electrically stimulating nerves.
The Kalmanovitz Central Nervous System Repair Research Program is funded by a $500,000 gift from the Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation. The program is directed by Loyola neurosurgeon Russ Nockels, MD, who has been treating and studying spinal cord injuries for 30 years.
read....https://www.news-medical.net/news/20...rd-injury.aspx

USA
Recovered Quadriplegic Inspires People with Spinal Cord Injuries
May 31, 2011 8:00 PM
⦁ Tala Hadavi
After breaking his neck in several places, Pat Rummerfield can walk and run
Pat Rummerfield is used to being described as a walking miracle. More than three decades after breaking his neck in several places, Rummerfield cannot only walk, he can also run and is considered to be a fully-functional quadriplegic.

'Walking miracle'

The human spinal cord is a crucial pathway for nerves connecting the brain with the rest of the body. Unlike most critical body parts, the spinal cord does not repair itself if damaged. While there have been promising advances in research in recent years, there is currently no cure for spinal cord injury. Still, there are a few extraordinary cases of people, like Rummerfield, who have recovered.

Rummerfield now devotes his life to helping others who have suffered similar injuries. He spends a week every month working with patients at the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, in Baltimore, Maryland. Technically, his job title at the institute is spokesperson and fundraiser. But his most important role is to be there for patients who first and foremost need his moral support.
read....https://www.voanews.com/a/recovered-...23/163185.html

New hope for spinal cord injuries: Silk from moths can be used to stabilize the injury and promote repair, according to experts
10/16/2018 / By Frances Bloomfield
British scientists have discovered a novel method of treating spinal cord injuries: modified silk from the Chinese Oak Silkmoth (Antheraea pernyi). By cleaning and sterilizing the silk produced by the larvae of this species, the researchers claim that this material could support nerve cell growth throughout affected areas of the spine.
As of this writing, there are no known cures for spinal cord damage. This is partly due to cavity and scar tissue formations becoming “formidable barriers” that hinder the restoration of proper spine function. Thus, the researchers wrote in their paper, “natural silks are considered increasingly for medical applications because they are biocompatible, biodegradable and in selected cases promote tissue growth.”
For the purposes of their study, the researchers turned to petri dish tests on rat cells. The modified Chinese Oak Silkmoth silk, which had been supplied by Oxford Biomaterials Ltd., proved to have the important and desirable properties to serve as a “scaffold” for spinal repair. (Related: Silk fibers may help repair nerve damage in humans.)
read,,,https://www.health.news/2018-10-16-s...te-repair.html

Asterias Biotherapeutics Announces Positive Outcome from Data Review from OPC1 Spinal Cord Injury Study
\l "\l "\l "https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/10/31/1640333/0/en/Asterias-Biotherapeutics-Announces-Positive-Outcome-from-Data-Review-from-OPC1-Spinal-Cord-Injury-Study.htmlEmail Print Friendly Share
October 31, 2018 09:45 ET | Source: Asterias Biotherapeutics
Meeting with Food and Drug Administration Remains on Track for End of 2018
FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AST), a biotechnology company dedicated to developing cell-based therapeutics to treat neurological conditions associated with demyelination and cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer, today announced a positive outcome from an independent Data Review Panel’s review of the data generated by patients enrolled in the Company’s ongoing Phase 1/2a SCiStar study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of OPC1 in the treatment of severe cervical spinal cord injury. Based on a review of the data, the Panel recommended moving forward with the continued clinical development of OPC1. The next step in the development of OPC1 is a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later this year to discuss proposed next steps for the OPC1 clinical development program, including the trial design for a randomized controlled Phase 2 trial.
“We believe the the positive feedback we received from the Panel will strengthen our meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) later this year,” commented Ed Wirth, Chief Medical Officer of Asterias. “Assuming successful execution of the FDA meeting and obtainment of additional CIRM funding or alternative financing, we expect to enroll the first patient in the Phase 2 randomized controlled trial in the first half of 2020.”
read...https://globenewswire.com/news-relea...ury-Study.html

As Indy driver Robert Wickens vows to walk again, local neurosurgeon discusses spinal cord injuries
Robert Wickens vowed to walk again.
Wickens on Aug. 19 was severely injured in a crash at Pocono Raceway.
Wickens’ car sailed into the catch fence after it made slight contact with a car driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay. He was airlifted to Lehigh Valley Hospital for initial treatment and underwent multiple surgeries.
Wickens, a 29-year-old Canadian driver and member of the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team, revealed last week on his social media accounts the extent of the injuries he suffered in the crash, saying he is a paraplegic with a T4 injury, paralyzed from his chest down.
“The doctors have told us every SCI [spinal cord injury] is different,” Wickens wrote Oct. 26. “One may walk again and one may not. Each body heals differently. So we can not tell you a definitive answer if I will walk again. But I have full intentions of doing just that.”
read...http://www.mcall.com/sports/motoraci...029-story.html

Public Release: 31-Oct-2018
Breakthrough neurotechnology for treating paralysis
New rehabilitation protocols lead to restored neurological function in paraplegics
Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne

Three paraplegics who sustained cervical spinal cord injuries many years ago are now able to walk with the aid of crutches or a walker thanks to new rehabilitation protocols that combine targeted electrical stimulation of the lumbar spinal cord and weight-assisted therapy.
This latest study, called STIMO (STImulation Movement Overground), establishes a new therapeutic framework to improve recovery from spinal cord injury. All patients involved in the study recovered voluntary control of leg muscles that had been paralyzed for many years. Unlike the findings of two independent studies published recently in the United States on a similar concept, neurological function was shown to persist beyond training sessions even when the electrical stimulation was turned off. The STIMO study, led by the Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) in Switzerland, is published in the 1 November 2018 issues of Nature and Nature Neuroscience.
read...https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...nf_1103018.php

Immune cells of zebrafish offer clues to develop therapies for spinal cord injuries
Download PDF Copy
Reviewed by James Ives, MPsychNov 8 2018
Fresh insights into how zebrafish repair their damaged nerve connections could aid the development of therapies for people with spinal cord injuries.
Scientists have found the immune system plays a key role in helping zebrafish nerve cells to regenerate after injury.
The findings offer clues for developing treatments that could one day help people to regain movement after spinal cord injury.
read...https://www.news-medical.net/news/20...-injuries.aspx

Keio researchers plan to treat spinal cord injuries with stem cells
Kyodo
⦁ Nov 14, 2018
Article history
PRINT
SHARE
⦁ Keio University is poised to conduct the world?s first treatment of patients who have sustained spinal cord injuries using induced pluripotent stem cells, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
⦁ If approved by the state, the private university plans to inject neural stem cells produced from iPS cells into four people aged 18 or older who were injured while playing sports or in traffic accidents, starting next year.
⦁ For the planned treatment, a team of Keio researchers led by Hideyuki Okano, a professor in the School of Medicine, will first create neural stem cells from iPS cells in storage at Kyoto University and then freeze them for preservation, the sources said.
When a patient is presented who has lost motor function or sensation due to damage to their spinal cord, the researchers will inject the neural stem cells to encourage nerve regeneration.
read...https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20.../#.W-2V7unQaUk

Walker's First Steps
Photography by Ruby Wallau | Story by Tommy Cassell
On a warm late September day, Connor Walker, 19, lay motionless on a Connecticut football field. The St. Anselm College defensive lineman had injured his spine on an awkward block. A captain on the Marlborough High School football team before graduating in 2017, he had just started his sophomore year in college but on that day two months ago he was about to start another new journey.https://www.facebook.com/sharer/shar...etrowestsports
Connor Walker feels like he’s floating on air. But he’s nowhere near Cloud Nine.
A spinal cord injury he suffered in a football game in late September left him without feeling in his legs. His injury, however, isn’t slowing him down.
He’s actually walking.
“You tell your brain and you tell your body to listen and it’s kind of on auto pilot,” Walker said. “I can’t feel it. It’s almost like my torso is floating, so it’s very weird.
“The best way I can describe it is floating on air.”
read...http://gatehousenews.com/connorwalker/